I went on a few mile charity ride a couple weeks ago and of course there were several of the bike snobs there. You know the guys wearing brightly colored jerseys that cost more then my bike. The guys who just turn away or look right through you if you say hi or wave at them. So we are at the after party and its winding down. My buddy and I watched them 1 by 1 load their bikes up in their cars with local plates and drive home. We were laughing our Walmart shorts covered buts off as we mounted our reasonably priced bikes and rode home.

Believe it or not, it happens in the ranks of roadies as well. I have a road bike that is in the middle of the road as far as price goes. It's also a Giant. At the park where I ride, most of the younger riders on their higher end, all carbon tri bikes and big name carbon road bikes just pass you off as not even existing.

I found the same thing happened at the MS 150 I rode in last month. My bike, although an Editor's Choice in Bicycling Magazine, just wasn't good enough fro them. But I took it in stride and laughed at them as I passed them by on their high end, high priced bikes.

Then when I'm at the park and I'm on my hybrid, forget it. Even though some of them know that I have a road bike, I now am scum of the earth. However, I do like my bike club. We accept anyone and any bike, regardless of the price and the person.

This happens a lot for me. I ride a mountain bike that I have set up so its great both on and off road. Even though I can keep up with most of my friends who ride their road bikes, any other person on a road bike looks down on me. My friends couldn't believe it when I was able to keep up with them mile after mile, but just because of my bike anyone else thinks I suck.

On weekends the park I ride at is usually full in the early morning (the park opens at 7:00 am). It has cyclist on road and MTB bikes, walkers, runners and roller bladers of all age groups. Even though I don't know these people by name, I make it a habit to try and say good morning to all of them that I pass or that pass me. I don't always get a response back, but that's OK. At least I can safely say that they aren't calling me a%%*&~e or jerk when I pass them by. As I pass them by, I always yell "On your left" to let them know I'm coming around them and then say "Thank you" if they move over for me. There's not really a lot to this "being friendly" thing. I'm not sure if it has to do with my age or what, but it feels better than being grumpy.

I love keeping up with one on a multi thousand dollar carbon road bike with my '85 steel (not even chrome-moly) Schwinn World Tourist - if I used toe clips, I'd be passing him, but in traffic, I'd rather have my feet loose....

(06-08-2011, 01:28 AM)nfmisso Wrote: I love keeping up with one on a multi thousand dollar carbon road bike with my '85 steel (not even chrome-moly) Schwinn World Tourist - if I used toe clips, I'd be passing him, but in traffic, I'd rather have my feet loose....

It certainly is the best feeling in the world sitting right behind a set of thousand pound sweaty weekend riders, them glancing over their shoulder and seeing me behind them, the glance turns into a stare, then they go for leather for a mile and get really pissed off when I am still behind them on my 80's steel mtb with road tires. My twenty five mile return daily commute to work has paid off, I'm still a big guy, but can keep up with the skinny latex weekend warriors.

I really was not going to comment here. Decided to say something anyways lol. They are everywhere in just about all aspects of life with the holier then tho attitude of OMG is that a Blank blank bike????? Ahahahahahahah! Yup, it does exist and they are out there. The looks and the attitude I get when riding my bike with Zadey along side is rather uncalled for. My thoughts are one helluva an evil laugh right back at them. Especially when we were at the park once I noticed a 3 guys on very expensive bikes taking a break. One was sitting in the grass, another was nealed down adjusting something, and the 3rd was drinking out of his water bottle. One made the comment,"Wow not everyday you see a retard with his wife on a tricycle!" Ok I was pretty pi@@#$ off and ready to go and smack the poop out of them. INSTEAD, I stopped and said,"Despite the rude comment I am gonna be nice to let you know that where you are sitting is a MAJOR place where dogs poop and pee including mine. The water spicket you used to fill up your water bottle is non-potable aka pond water for watering the grass!!! That's what the sign means by NON-POTABLE WATER!". One that was sitting quickly got up, one adjusting whatever got up, guy drinking the water spit out what he could of what was in his mouth, and threw away his water bottle. I was laughing my butt off for the rest of the ride. So the way I see it no one is perfect!!! People will be people and bike are bikes! I try to say hello to everyone just out of kindness. I get a finger, hi, or dirty look, oh well.

Good maintenance to your Bike, can make it like the wheels are, true and smooth!

I take it you weren't riding your recumbent when you did that ride you mentioned in your first post. That makes a big difference around my neck of the woods. Roadies can't stand recumbents because they can go just as fast as they can and the rider is twice as comfortable. There is a guy that rides a two wheel recumbent in the same park I go to that I have seen pass these triathlon bikes and leave them behind, big time. The guy looks like he is in his late 40's but he really hauls butt with that bike. I can't keep up with him, but I would guess that he is going pretty close to 30+ mph on that bike because he passes me like I'm standing still when I'm doing around 20, and then he's gone.

In my last MS 150, many of the recumbent riders finished way ahead of the road bike riders, including me, and they probably weren't as tired. If I ever start getting aches and pains from my road bike, a recumbent will be my next bike. My wife rides one and its like riding a lounge chair on wheels. We are looking to get her a tadpole style recumbent to drop the weight in half. She has a steel frame Sun EZ-3 that weighs in at 60 lbs. It has served its purpose and really built her leg muscles and stamina up, but now she wants to get serious.

Yes I was but unlike them I parked off to the side out of the way and I dont think they saw my ride. Ive seen this bunch before over the years and they are always the same. Their favorite thing is to ride(when not hauling their bikes) 2 lane county roads and when there is no oncoming traffic spread out across both lanes and back up traffic.
Mine ia a Sun T3-CX and weighs is at about 35lbs. Its a lot faster then the EZ-3 but rides much much rougher. Only answer is to get cushier tires but there goes about 1/2 that extra speed. I looked at the EZ-SX and it actually had better components then mine. I also looked at a Greenspeed X3 and WOW but was 3 times the price for not nearly 3 times the trike. On the flat Im quite a bit slower then a regular bike but down hill I can pass the strongest riders with out even peddling. I was going to ride one of my ole Schwinns but chickened out the last minute.
If I ever figure out how to aim my cheap sports cam I will get a better vid.

That is a nice bike. We looked at one before she decided to go with the EZ-3. I'm actually looking to get my wife a Boomer (made is Australia) from a local bike shop that carries them. They have a really nice aluminum frame (32 lb), 21 speed trike with a 700c rear drive wheel. The side wheels are 20" and having the rear wheel a 700c really makes the bike a lot faster. She doesn't go very fast now, but if she gets this bike, she will be able to keep up with me when I am in slow cruise mode. Here is the one that I am thinking of getting her.

[attachment=2525]

This one is around $1,300.00 USD. That's right around what I paid for my road bike.